National School Reform Faculty

Looking for a Text
Date: December 2, 2003 - January 10, 2004
Listserv: Coaches

Tuesday, December 2, 2003 4:03 PM
Dear Colleagues,
I am looking for something and I need some help.I am looking for a text that puts forth a provocative belief or set of beliefs about students in their last year of high school. ( on the verge of making their guardians, guides, teachers, etc... obsolete?) I wish to use this text as part of a "way in" to potentially complicated conversation about how we ( as diverse, caring adults) perceive kids on the verge of exiting our schools. The piece doesn't need to be of education literature- I have a feeling that this something may exist in a passage of a novel... but on my own I can't quite muster the memory or range I need to get the right piece. Any thoughts? Thanks,
Teri, Massachusettes

Tuesday, December 2, 2003 10:30 PM
Hey Sylvia. Have your checked with Lumina? They are focusing on transitions from high school. There is a wonderful woman there Leah Lefstein (in the Indpls) office who you might contact for some ideas. She helped start the center for Early Adolescent Dev. in North Carolina and is a committed, caring, and remarkable educator. Good luck.

PS Im on my way to being a principal of THe Met in Indy. I was selected to be the principal and know we are working on a Charter to be approved in January.
Take care.
Carol, Indiana

Tuesday, January 6, 2004 9:29 PM
Teri:
I don't think this exactly fits..but it has been on my mind to send to you anyway, because you might be able to use it in part for your question above. I will bring the whole chapter to our cfg meeting on Friday....

But, for everyone else who is also interested in this question of letting go and saying good bye and the relationship between teachers and students, particularly (but not only) in urban areas like the South Bronx, and particularly (but not only) between teachers of color and their students, I recommend Chapter 23 from Jonathan Kozol's book, Ordinary Resurrections. Actually, I recommend the whole book - it is one of my all time favorites.

From Ordinary Resurrections:

"Saying goodbye to children in the final days of school is hard for teachers everywhere. In September when you meet them they are simply 25 or 30 little mysteries, some well-behaved, some frightened, some precocious, some of them more problematic, some of them unmanageable squirmers, some of them eternal "motor mouth," as Miss Resitetter said about Christina, but all of them still packages with unknown contents and still unknown possibilities. By June there may be fewer mysteries, but a new chemistry has taken place. They are all your children now and you don't usually like to let them go.".... page 307
At the end of the chapter, Miss Dukes, a second grade teacher says, in part, to her
students...

"I'd like to see some of you children go to college and work hard so you can study to be teachers. So all of the mistakes your teachers made when you were growing up, you can be sure you'll never make. So you can be much better teachers to your students than I was to you.

And this summer, above all, children, please be safe! And never talk to strangers who approach you in the street. And, every night, please put a book beneath your pillow.
And be good to your mothers. And listen to your mothers. And be respectful to your mothers. And those of you who will be going to your grandma's for the summer, please don't
let her give you too much candy.

"All right then...."
"Goodbye, Miss Dukes!"
"Goodbye, children."
"All right, then...," she says again.
"Goodbye!"
"Goodbye!"
"All right then..., the teacher says. "I love you."
pp. 312-313
--
Gene, Indiana

Wednesday, January 7, 2004 4:08 PM
I would suggest you take a look at the end of Annie Dillard's An American Childhood. On pages 230-240 in the 1987 Harper Perennial edition (Part 3), Dillard describes her restlessness and boredom senior year, despite her belief that she was receiving a "dandy education." She fantasizes starting a riot and overthrowing her teachers. Dillard, in spite of her boredom with school, is deep into French symbolist poetry and other intellectual pursuits, but she has had enough of high school.
Susan, Rhode Island

Thursday, January 8, 2004 9:07 AM
Teri -
Jon Raimon, one of our English/Social Studies teachers has a course entitled "I Know Some Things: Literature about Childhood and Coming of Age" for which he has a number of books that might be helpful if you're interested.
David, New York

Thursday, January 8, 2004 9:41 AM
Though a little different (based on studies, lots of figures and graphs), but something that parts could be used from for reading and rich discussion with students....what about Becoming Adult: How Teenagers Prepare for the World of Work by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (who also wrote Flow, The Evolving Self, Creativity, Being Adolescent and Finding Flow) and Barbara Schneider (who also wrote The Ambitious Generation and Transforming Schools) Topics within are: Adolescents Views of Work Envisioning the Future;

Learning to Work-Images of Work and Play, Learning to like Challenges, Quality of Classroom Experiences; Transitions from High School-Guiding

Students into the Future: Three SChools of Thought, Paths After High School, Making the Transition to Adulthood.
Susie, Maine

Thursday, January 8, 2004 6:49 PM
I'm also looking for ideas and inspiration along this line.
I'm working with a family counselor in town to help our high school put together a workshop for our parents whose children are either transitioning into high school or out of high school into society, so I would be very interested in any materials, article or ideas that you come up with. Dave, how can we get in touch with Jon?
Barb, Indiana

Friday, January 9, 2004 1:31 AM
I wondered if Nancy Sizer's book Crossing the Stage might be useful.
Chris, Pennsylvania

Friday, January 9, 2004 4:13 PM
Looking if anyone has information about the Odyssey Project.
Any info would be helpful -- Thanks
Chris, Texas

Saturday, January 10, 2004 12:33 PM
I think the original request for a text regarding the senior year and transition from high school mentioned perhaps looking beyond non-fiction for an essay, short story, or piece of fiction Still, I can second the suggestion to look at Nancy Sizer's book Crossing the Stage. A CFG I worked with last year used the text and it prompted a lot of thoughtful and productive conversation.
Angela, Texas